The stealing part has to do with the history of Hetch Hetchy, which nobody in SF officialdom wants to fix/deal with/discuss, ’cause SFGov conducted a bribery campaign a century ago and that’s The Way Things Are and that’s the way we likes it. OK fine.

And what’s this, SF now recycles a little bit of water the past few years, after all that criticism? OK fine.

But here we go, what’s this?

And what’s this?

And what’s this?

And at night too – so, who gives a fuck, right?

Anyway, that’s the recent past, but now here’s the here and now, or at least the past month or two – random historic street lamps in Golden Gate Park have been blazing away all the live-long day. See?

Do you think all the SFPUC/RPD/SFGov workers who claim to ride bikes to work might notice this and maybe say something to somebody after all these weeks and weeks? Oh what’s that, you merely testing the lights? Oh, well, maybe you are, maybe all these lights on makes sense somehow, the same way that watering the Panhandle bike path every night made sense, the same way that watering the Saabs of Fell and Oak made sense…

Of course, this design is the “beautiful” version. (What would an ugly rain garden look like, one wonders.)

And look, the “natural” weeds have already been carefully planted. Is our PUC going to water these weeds, you know, during the months and months when we don’t get any rain at all, to keep them green and “beautiful?” We’ll see.

(BTW, if you label the PUC the PUC, at least a few employees / contractors / interns / somebody who has access to the PUC’s email system just might hector you about instead calling the PUC “SF Water,” or SF Water Power Sewer. Let’s hope our SFPUC isn’t paying its employees $114 an hour on the side to email about how “confused” I am with my belief that the SFPUC can, at least sometimes, be rightfully be called the SFPUC.)

But, Gentle Reader, the well-paid PUC outreach people say that you can take a “tour” of these rain gutters if you want. Email at ssip@sfwater.org

[UPDATE: Our PUC writes in tell about how I’m confusing them with the CAPUC, the same way, one supposes that Mssrs. Matier and Ross got “confused” when calling them the PUC here. But take their tour if you want – see Comments.]

Remember the revival of “Victory Gardens?” I do. It peaked in 2009. But the new thang in urban gardening is upon us.

As seen on Fell, looking inbound:

(Oh, and the microfences already indicate that no bike parking is allowed. So what’s the PUC going to do? Ticket your ride? Cut off your lock and impound your bike?)

On Fell, looking outbound:

And look, clobblestones!

Are these real cobblestones? One can’t tell. Should they be? One doesn’t know.

All right, that was the windup, and now here’s the pitch, from the SFPUC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PG&E:

Are these realtor-backed parklets “beautiful?” I don’t think so. Will they “improve safety?” I don’t see how. And actually, spending tax and fee payer money on “streetscape” “beauty” instead of safety is the opposite of “improving safety,” PUC. Oh, and PUC, if you ever want to talk about how best to “manage” California’s water resources for the benefit of all Californians, look me up, cause you’re doing it wrong…

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is teaming up with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) on the Oak Street and Fell Street Pedestrian and Bike Safety Project to integrate stormwater management with their traffic calming project.

In response to strong public feedback for more greenery and planting for the project, we’ve added rain gardens to the bulbouts along Oak and Fell Streets. A rain garden is a stormwater management technique which infiltrates stormwater into the soil, diverting water from going into the sewer. This addition to the project will benefit community members; not only will the project make residents and travelers safer, the rain gardens will add beauty and character to the intersections. Our partnership with the SFMTA will extend the improvements already underway. While the addition of green infrastructure will not result in any additional parking losses beyond what was approved by the SFMTA Board of Directors in May 2012, four of the bulbouts will be larger than initially proposed. Originally scheduled for construction in late 2013, the project is slated to begin construction in early summer 2014.

Anyway, yes, our drinking water comes from the Yosemite area [Please see Comments for this correction], from athousand li away. So, you’re oll korrect on that score, artiste de graffiti.

But IMO, the arrow points in the wrong direction. ‘Cause the Ladies Room doorway you can see there has toilets filled with the very same drinking water.

So yeah, SFPUC, the chairs you sit on up there above Civic Center are sustainable or whatever, and that, somehow, helped your new building become Platinum Leed certified or whatever, but what about your actual operations, man? Oh, you inherited a big chunk of flooded Yosemite and that’s the way you like it and you’ll fight to maintain your Way Of Life for as long as possible and that’s part of the reason why the “World Capital of Innovation” can’t worry about recycling any water at all? OK fine. Hey, SFGov, how about the water you spray on the street from the street sweepers? Oh, that’s drinking water so pure that you don’t need to filter it as well, huh? OK fine.

*Does the jogger have a white shirt with golden (red) hair or a blue shirt with black hair? Well, actually, my camera chose to give her white shirt a blue tinge, which I hastily fixed with one click. Anyway, when you do this kind of thing, everything in the background in direct sunlight goes to heck, but that’s white balance for you. In mitigation, the colors you see on the right side should be pretty much spot-on.

**IDK, that could be its name, who knows. Willie Brown will go to his grave having failed at having SFO and/or long long 3rd Street named after him, after decades of effort. (I think he eventually got an airport terminal or something.) But Gavin has a long road ahead of him afore the NAAWP or some other org will become the front organization for naming anything of significance after GCN.

Restrictions Comply with State Water Resources Control Board’s New Emergency Regulations for Outdoor Urban Water Use

San Francisco, CA – On August 12th, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) passed new emergency outdoor irrigation restrictions for all of its retail customers. The regulations feature a mandate to reduce potable water use by 10% for outdoor irrigation of ornamental landscape and turf. They also require that the SFPUC implement its plan to reduce wasteful outdoor water use.

The new restrictions for outdoor irrigation take effect mid-September and last through June 30, 2015. Only water customers that have metered irrigation accounts will be issued a usage allocation based on a 10% reduction of their 2013 usage. During that September – June timeframe, customers’ usage must not exceed their allocation. Customers will be able to track how they are doing on each bill. At the next scheduled meeting of the SFPUC, Commissioners will consider an excess use charge of 2x the billing rate for every unit in excess of a customer’s allocation. While metered irrigation accounts are the easiest to track, the SFPUC is asking all of its retail customers to comply. Edible food gardens and areas that are irrigated with non-potable water are exempted.

Concurrently, the SFPUC will also be implementing an education-first plan to reduce wasteful outdoor water use by prohibiting certain water-wasting activities, which include:

· Watering outdoor landscapes in a manner that causes excess runoff; · Using a hose, without a shut-off nozzle, for any purpose; · Using drinking water in non- recirculating fountains or decorative water devices; and, · Washing down driveways/sidewalks except for health and safety purposes.

The exemption for health and safety purposes is strictly limited to: the removal of human and animal waste; the removal of liquids and substances that cause odors, sticky, slick and unsafe conditions for pedestrians; and, the elimination of conditions that attract insects and vermin. Reports of water waste will be tracked through 311. The SFPUC will be focusing on education and training, not policing and fining. Reported water wasters will be sent a warning notice for reported violations. Only after three warning notifications, clear documentation, and a site-visit by SFPUC staff, will citations be considered. Fines will start at $100 per violation and will require approval by the SFPUC General Manager before issuance. Fines are a last resort only and appeals will be routed through the City Controller’s office. The new regulations will assist San Francisco in meetings its 10% conservation request. Fortunately, customers have consistently met and exceeded the 10% voluntary conservation request this summer. This savings-spree is making up for lost time earlier in the year when customers were not meeting their goals.

- Total Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System storage stands at 61% of maximum storage capacity.

- As of August 4, total water savings has dramatically swelled to 3.9 billion gallons of water – almost triple from what it was on June 23.

- If the current conservation trend continues, the SFPUC projects meeting the 10% savings goal for the entire year. This will stave off the need for additional system wide water restrictions this year.

“We don’t know when this drought will end,” said SFPUC General Manager Harlan L. Kelly, Jr. “The mandatory outdoor irrigation reduction is a small, but important step as we continue conserving and diversifying our precious water supplies.”

The SFPUC provides reliable, high quality drinking water to 2.6 million customers in San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Alameda counties. Updates and additional information will be available at sfwater.org/conservation.

You see how that works? The groundwater sources that the SFPUC wants to provide to us don’t pass muster with the Feds as drinking water. So they want to cut it with Hetch Hetchy water and then, and only then, will it meet standards.

Our drinking water will become less pure, right? I mean, that’s the whole plan, that’s the what the SFPUC has decided to do to save money, for better or worse.

All right, well, the reason why SFGov can’t pay Steve Ritchie his inflated, six-figure salary with Monopoly money is because it doesn’t pass muster with the Feds as lawful currency. But what if we cut it with real money, so Steve Ritchie ends up with his salary being paid with 90% real money and 10% fake money?

I wouldn’t call that a pay cut at all. I would call that a “very high-quality” salary, one well above whatever our Federal government requires for the minimum wage.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – San Francisco Public Utilities Commission General Manager Harlan Kelly issued the following statement today regarding a request for customers to voluntarily curtail water use by 10%.

“On Friday, January 31st, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission will ask customers of the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System to voluntarily curtail water consumption by at least 10%. Over the next few days, I will be working closely with Mayor Ed Lee, San Francisco city departments and our Bay Area wholesale customers to develop strategies to meet this water conservation goal.
I believe voluntary water conservation efforts are the best way to avert mandatory cutbacks and other water restrictions should drought conditions persist.”

A formal announcement and media availability will take place on Friday. Details will be made available in a press advisory the day prior. The SFPUC provides reliable, high quality drinking water to 2.6 million people in San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Alameda Counties.

As always, the SFPUC encourages our customers to conserve water. Here are some helpful tips to conserve water around the house.

1. Turn off the faucet when you are brushing your teeth or doing the dishes – save 2 gallons per minute.
2. Take shorter showers. Each minute you cut saves 2.5 gallons. Make sure you or your property owner have installed a high-efficiency showerhead.
3. Operate your clothes and dishwashers with full loads only, even if the machine has an adjustable load setting.
4. Use a broom to clean sidewalks, driveways and pavement instead of using a hose.
5. Reduce outdoor watering needs by planting species appropriate for the Bay Area’s dry climate.
6. Water during the cool part of the day. Reduce evaporation by watering lawns and plants only at night or early morning before dawn.
7. Detect leaks. Do you hear the toilet running or your faucet dripping? Contact the SFPUC or your local water agency for information on locating your water meter and detecting plumbing leaks using meter readings. Conducting a dye-test in toilet tanks can identify costly silent leaks.
8. Install aerators on bathroom and kitchen sinks to reduce indoor water use by about 4%.
9. Many Bay Area water utilities provide a number of efficient conservation plumbing fixtures for free. The SFPUC provides free faucet aerators, low-flow showerheads and garden spray nozzles to San Francisco residents. Pickup in person with proof of address at 525 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco – Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
10. Replace your old toilet, the largest water user inside your home. New high-efficiency toilet models flush at 1.3 gallons or less compared to older models, which use up to 7 gallons per flush. Bay Area water agencies offer cash rebates for the purchase of select high-efficiency toilets.
11. Replace your clothes washer, the second largest water user in your home. High efficiency clothes washers can reduce water and energy use by 40%. Bay Area water agencies offer cash rebates for the purchase of select high-efficiency clothes washers.

Special Members-Only Preview: January 25, 9:00 – 10:00 am Open to Public: January 25, 10:00 am in the Pachyderm Building

Poop. Doo-doo. Dung. Number 2. No matter what you call it, you’ll be able to learn all about it at The Scoop on Poop, our latest special exhibition on view in the Pachyderm Building. Based on a popular children’s book by the same name by Dr. Wayne Lynch, The Scoop on Poop leads visitors on an investigation of what poop is and how animals and humans use it.

Animals use poop to build homes, hide from enemies, attract mates, send messages, and cool off – some even eat it! Veterinarians, farmers, naturalists, paleontologists, Maasai tribesmen, and power companies use it, too. Poop is a scientific puzzle, and with a little detective work, you can learn a lot about an animal by what it leaves behind.